The road less traveled

As much as God is control of our lives, He gives us the gift of choice. Like I wrote in one of my earlier posts, we are faced with choices from the moment our eyes open to the moment we close them again. We choose what to eat, wear, say, think, act, etc.

There's a huge reason why Jesus teaches on entering the gate that is narrow and the way that is hard. Its the road that leads to life and those who find it are few. It kind of reminds me of the scene from LOTR3, when Aragorn leads Legolas and Gimli into the Paths of Death, where they were to acquire the help from the Army of the Dead. (wow, embrace the nerdiness) It was obviously the road that most others would not have taken, but Aragorn knew that it was the one that was the most promising.

Anyways, back to reality. There is usually two paths to choose from. One path that is seemingly familiar, comfortable, and usually the one that we choose. The other... well the other is like the Path of Death in lotr. The path that is unfamiliar, uninviting, and just scary. This is the path that is right for us, but is usually never the one that is taken.

Even though I'm only 22, there have been multiple paths that I have taken that have been marked with my shoes, simply because I've taken it so many times. You know that fresh imprint that your tennis shoes leaves right after your step in a pile of mud? yeah, its like re-walking into those steps over and over again. But, its more of a orbital path because it never really goes anywhere, but just back to where you started. K, this is starting to make no sense. Basically, we often find ourselves re-learning the same lessons over and over again because we refuse to take the path that is narrow. We take the one that is wide, seemingly comforting because of its familiarity, and because its "easier." But, by taking this choice, we end up having to go through things that we thought we had learned, and go through them again. (maybe even worse..)

Now, the questions is.... where is this path that you need to take? What does it even look like? Being as fickle as we are, no matter how great you think you are, we all need a savior and someone to direct us. When we learn to trust in our own abilities to lead us in life, it usually ends up leading to selfishness, greed, brokenness

But, when you follow God, YOU KNOW that it'll ONLY lead to life. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit's ONLY message is LOVE.

LOVE! love. How can a road to love ever be harmful? It never can. Imagine a world where every single person went down that narrow road of love.... there wouldn't be world hunger, wars, depression, brokenness.

When you need to make a decision about something, just ask yourself this: "What would Jesus do? He would love. Make the decision that'll take you down that road."

Yeah, this doesn't look so inviting, huh? Who would want to go in there.....

BUT..

It's these badboys that come through at the end and kick all those orcs boottays.

So, the narrow and scary road will definitely prove to be worth it in the end.

No Strings Attached

I'm beginning to realize how much I don't love God as much as I say or think I do. To truly love someone, you're willing to lay down your life for them. As much as I've said openly, outloud and in my mind, that I will lay down my life for God in a heart beat, I think there has still been some luke-warm(ness) that went with it. My pastor preached on legality vs. intimacy, and it really got me thinking on how I've placed God as a law in my life.

How much do I really love Him? Am i consumed with thoughts about Him throughout the day? When I feel offended by His presence, am I willing to lay those offenses down for the sake of loving Him an ounce more? It's scary to admit, but I think its a shaky-no to all those questions. I'm not willing to give up things in my life, yet. A lot of it comes from my unbelief and skepticism of who He is.

But, there's also a battle that wages in me saying that this is simply the journey of getting to know God. I can't achieve perfection, but I also can't use that as an excuse and become jaded by the things around me. I really think it comes down to giving up or not.

I walked/ran/dragged myself through a 15-mile hike a couple of weeks ago, and I truly had to push myself to the limits. For so many people, 15 miles is nothing but a pat on the back (ahem... susan and mike), but for someone like myself, who is outwardly quite skinny, but is really overweight at heart, 15-miles was like mt.everest. *sidenote- i never knew how out of shape I was until that day.... For those of you who have never ridden a roller coaster in your life.. please don't start out with Goalith. Same goes with hiking.. if you know you're out of shape, run a few miles here and there before you try to go all crazy*

I really felt like I was dying. I even made a death video because at one point of the hike, I didn't know where the trail continued and I was all by myself. (mike and susan were leisurely strolling up the mtn...) But, there was something inside of me that literally pushed me forward. Even though I'm a tiny girl, I think God has blessed me with strength-like samson. Well, I am boasting a little bit more than I should because i know a part of the reason I kept going was the fact that I really didn't want to have rescue workers come find me.... especially since I was only on a 15-mile hike. sigh. But, definitely having a strong-will helped. I didn't give up and 6 hours later, I ended up making it out alive.

Man, hiking is such a parallel to life. Don't give up. Temptation, sins, and all that nastiness will definitely be around all the time. But, giving in to those things won't get you out alive. But, it's also about the will behind it. I not only had to get through the hike, I wanted to finish it so badly.

Basically.... don't give up. God's love for you is worth it. Suck it up and it's gonna hurt real bad.. but don't go backwards.

And if you really can't love God as much as you want to, God will always love you anyways. That's the thing about following God... we can only love because he loved us first. This is definitely a love i want to receive and give back.